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Plimsoll Line

Plimsoll Line

In this activity children learn about buoyancy and how it is affected by different water conditions and learn the importance of a Plimsoll Line.

Description

Plimsoll sneakers feature a line around the sole - you can walk in puddles and keep your feet dry, as long as the water level is below the line. However the original Plimsoll line was altogether more significant. The Bristol-born Liberal politician, Samuel Plimsoll, devoted years of his life to ensuring a bill was passed by Parliament to make shipping safer by painting a simple line on the side of every vessel to ensure against overloading.

Children learn about buoyancy and how it is affected by different water conditions. They will learn the importance of a Plimsoll Line and investigate where to draw one on a boat.

Learning Objective:

- that Samuel Plimsoll helped to prevent overloading of ships

Children will learn:

- that the centre of mass of a boat can be affected by overloading

- that when an object is submerged in water, the water provides an upward force (upthrust) on it

- that the type of water affects the upthrust

Primary upd8

Acknowledgements

These resources were initially developed in partnership with the Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University.